Sunday, 20 January 2013

The first Art Academy reading group of
2013 focused on a text by Susan Fitzpatrick entitled Art and
uneven development's cause is one: reflections on art and
'regeneration'. The essay was
originally published as part of a pamphlet which accompanied Hoist by Our Own Petard, an exhibition
held at Islington Mill in late-2012 which brought together artworks
by people who might not necessarily consider themselves artists –
often creating work from home, and in their spare time, as opposed to
in a dedicated studio space or as a way of making a living. The
exhibition questioned the nature of art and the value of creativity,
and the accompanying booklet primarily comprised each participating
artist's responses to a questionnaire on their attitude towards
making art. Fitzpatrick, whose work appeared in the exhibition in the
form of elaborate knitted hats, chose to expand on certain themes
explored in the exhibition by contributing a longer piece of writing
which drew on her doctoral thesis on community art.

As not
all members of the art academy were able to attend Hoist by
Our Own Petard, or obtain the
exhibition booklet, reading Fitzpatrick's text (slightly expanded for
the purposes of the reading group) enabled us to get a sense of the
exhibition as well as have a wider discussion around our
understanding of how art and culture are related to issues such as
economic value and place-making.

The
essay quoted a Liverpool City Council bureaucrat’s definition of
'culture' as being something we do when we are not at work, and we
discussed the way in which leisure time is becoming increasingly
commercialised (for example, private shopping development Liverpool One is seen as a destination
for a 'day out'). Similarly creativity is often packaged as being
part a 'lifestyle' we can aspire to. Fitzpatrick suggested that art
is seen by its advocates as being
intrinsically good (this has a historical grounding in
the nineteenth century critic John Ruskin's notion of art as a
'sacred fisher who gathers souls of men out of the deep'). From this
perspective, art has the power to improve people's lives, but it also works the other way by enhancing their contribution to society; today, creativity is valued
insofar as it makes a positive contribution to the economy, whether
by developing people's transferable skills, directly generating money
through entrepreneurship or attracting tourism and investment to an
area. Whilst artists themselves often have mixed views on regeneration, Maurice
Carlin, a director of Islington Mill, said that from his experience
regeneration agencies and the council were supportive of the Mill's
activities – or at least the artists' studios, which are home to small
creative businesses. He suggested that artists are attractive to
regenerators, as they can make something out of nothing – often
very quickly – and, unlike bureaucrats, they will think about the impossible.

Islington
Mill is an interesting venue for a discussion on regeneration,
due to its proximity to the Chapel Street regeneration area of Salford, an inner-city area which was once home to a thriving high street but is now characterised by a mix of empty, derelict buildings and new build flats. The wider
area of Salford has seen a lot of investment in cultural venues
such as the Lowry Centre, a big flagship venue for the city which
cost millions of pounds. What is missing from much discussion about
regeneration, however, is what people want. We wondered how many
places in the UK beyond a few, high-profile success stories have truly benefited from arts-led regeneration, and
what could have been achieved for the Salford's creative industries
if, instead of spending a large sum on creating a cultural centre
from scratch, the funding available had been spread across smaller
projects throughout the city, supporting organic growth of the city's
art scene. Fitzpatrick quotes studies which suggest many residents
struggle to be part of defining the places in which they live and
work, and we discussed to what extent we, as members of the public,
feel we 'own' these flagship arts buildings, ostensibly built for our
benefit. Comparisons were drawn with their antecedents, such as town
and city galleries built by philanthropists in the Victorian age and
municipal buildings built by modernist planners in the twentieth
century, both of which had an element of controlling or 'civilising' the populace,
aiming in some way to 'improve' citizens and their moral outlook.

We
also discussed one of the high-profile local 'failures' of cultural
regeneration: Urbis in Manchester city centre which opened in 2002 at
the centre of a new, so-called Millennium Quarter (a city brand which
has not made its way into popular vocabulary), but closed just eight
years later after failing to attract the expected number of visitors.
As Fitzpatrick notes, from a perspective of regeneration creativity
is expected to be easily definable and have visible, measurable
outcomes, yet experimentation and failure, without always having to
get it right the first time, is an important part of the process of
being creative. Perhaps Urbis was never allowed to get into its
stride and its value would have become apparent over the longer term.

With
this in mind, we asked why art and culture is so often seized upon by
those looking to regenerate and reinvent places, regardless of whether there is a demand or infrastructure in place to support it, and wondered what
the alternative is for creating jobs and economic growth. Having gone
from an agricultural society to an industrial economy to a service
economy in the course of a few generations, it is not clear what type
of production is going to drive our economy in the future, and there
is a lack of long-term vision regarding the arts due to the whims of
changing political regimes. However, if we want to enable to next
generation of artists and creators to thrive, we must ensure there is
an infrastructure in place to support emerging creative production that includes independent spaces, not just easily marketable large-scale projects. There is a danger of art being seen as a subject suitable only for the rich, or an activity which is understood and approved of as long as it makes money. Rather than imposing a certain, strategically-approved type
of culture from above, we must ensure that creative subjects
continue to be taught and valued at the level of schools and universities, and
that art is not allowed to become a 'luxury' or something to be indulged in only during our leisure
time.

Thursday, 3 January 2013

At our final Open Crit of the year we were joined by Rachel Goodyear; an artist and studio holder at Islington Mill, Paulette Terry Brian; director of International 3, Lorna Mollart; an artist who works in Hebden Bridge, and Jen Wu; an Artist and Curator based in Manchester.
Rachel Goodyear presented experiments into new ways of displaying small drawings.
In the photograph below Rachel talks about a piece which she has installed for the first time here; a spindly, many-limbed branch protruding from the wall, with several small drawings skewered at particular, meaningful points.We discussed what was unexpected about the piece as a physical object, as opposed to existing in the Artists' plans and imagination. The coincidental circumstance of light emanating from several points in the room created a 'shadow drawing', mirroring the three dimensional form of the branch in flat grey on the wall.

Maurice Carlin presented further developments of his practice involving hung paper and plaster casting with fabric moulds.The sculpture in the forefront of the photograph below produced visceral reactions; a mysteriously textured and surprisingly fuzzy object, restrained on it's board with tape and string. Our reactions to this piece; confusion, disgust, laughter, and storytelling, engendered discussions around ways of looking, particularly how to look without trying too hard to understand and archive.

Lisa Risbec presented her research into the stubborn growth of wild flowers and plants in urban environments.

A collection of research consisting of pressed specimines and photographs, documented the wild plants which flourish on inner city wastelands. Lisa's discussion of her practice inspired an exchange of research methods, with agreement on the importance of physically 'trying things out', if only to avoid drowning in un-tested ideas.Jen Wu also took us on an unexpected field trip to talk about a piece of public art work that she is planning, involving the preservation of a particular wall on Chapel Street against imminent demolition and regeneration.

Islington Mill Art Academy is a peer-led experiment into alternative modes of art education. Founded in 2007, IMAA emphasises shared responsibility, and its nature changes with its membership, with each member bringing their own ideas and energy. Within IMAA there is no differentiation between professor and pupil, and there are no set courses, but rather a shared propensity to learn and to strive for understanding. We seek out and utilise the resources which we can find around us, and employ 'art method' towards diverse, and not necessarily artistic, outcomes. Whilst the nature of IMAA is fluid and subject to change, it is always crucial to share ideas, and to embrace each other's skills and knowledge.